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IPR: DIPP allocation increased after copyright shift from HRD

14 Feb, 2017 - 04:55 PM IST | By B B Nagpal

NEW DELHI: With the entire bogey relating to copyright having shifted to it, the budget for intellectual property in the allocation for the Department of Industrial Policy and Planning has jumped up to Rs 1,700 million from Rs 1,112 million in 2016-17.

After the announcement made in early April last year that copyright issues would be dealt with by DIPP, revised estimates for 2016-17 had shown a jump to 1550 million, necessitating a higher budget for this sector.

Consequently, the allocation for Human Resource Development which had until now been primarily responsible for this sector shows a blank and the budgetary document says this is because the sector has moved to DIPP.

Of the total allocation, the highest share has been allocated for modernization and strengthening of Intellectual Property office - Rs 757.8 million, followed by Rs 520.1 million for the Controller General of Patent Designs and Trademarks.

Of these, the last three had been given some allocation in the revised budget. Interestingly, there is no explanatory for these six departments in the budget document.

In addition to the IP budget, there is an allocation of Rs 6.5 million for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as part of support to autonomous organizations.

It had been announced early in the financial year 2016-17 that issues of copyright had been shifted to the DIPP of the Commerce and Industry Ministry, which became the nodal department to deal with all issues related to copyright in the country.

(Copyright had until then been the preserve of the Human Resource Development Ministry and the film, music and television industries had always grudged this as they felt it should be with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.)